September 2, 2008

5:31: Ugh. CNN is still going over and over the hurricane. Would they be making so much of a hurricane of this dimension if it was the Democratic Convention?

5:32: I'll have to run off at some point to go to a hair appointment. Feel free to tell me how you think I should get my hair cut. Pictures especially appreciated.

5:49: The subject is whether Sarah Palin should stay home with her "special needs" child. Can you be a mother and pursue a career? Gloria Borger, a self-identified "working mom," says you can't make "generalizations," and everyone must make her own decision.

5:57: Wolf Blitzer is pushing the meme -- which I've heard elsewhere -- that McCain is a "maverick" and that means he makes impulsive decisions like the choice of Sarah Palin. He doesn't add -- but there are versions of this meme where it is added -- that this supposedly gut level choice of Sarah Palin should stand as a warning about the way he will make decisions about foreign policy.

6:38: Super-serious singing of the the national anthem, but I really don't like the singer's enunciation. Weird to have the flag waving on a digital screen.

8:22: I'm back. Hair cut. Just scrolled through all the stuff I missed, and it seems like virtually nothing.

8:43: Very moving presentation of the story of a Medal of Honor winner, Michael Monsoor. I see from the NYT that Senator Lieberman spoke, but I didn't see that in my scroll-through, so I didn't mean to count that as "virtually nothing." What I saw was a lot of Blitzer et al. commentary. [ADDED: No, that was just a preview. I didn't miss it.]

8:53: It's Laura Bush, extolling her husband as a man of principle and resolve. She praises his achievements: the appointment of women and 2 new Supreme Court Justices, the faith based initiative, the fight against AIDS -- "you might call that change you can really believe in" -- "and let's not forget, President Bush has kept the American people safe." Will Laura's husband ever be honored? Does she believe he will? She introduces him.

8:56: And here he is, on the video screen. "I know the hard choices that fall solely to a President. John McCain's life has prepared him to make those choices. He is ready to lead this nation."

9:09: A film clip about Reagan. In the car, I heard the film clip about Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Convention, much more than the Democratic Convention, highlights the heroic individual. This fits the party's ideology. John McCain was "a foot soldier" in "the Reagan Revolution." Reagan "broke the self-confidence of the Evil Empire of Communism." And he had Nancy. He put "country first." ("Country First" is the new McCain campaign slogan.)

9:14: And now: Fred Thompson. Ah! He springs to the defense of Sarah Palin. "I say give me a tough Alaskan Governor who's taken on the political establishment of the largest state in the Union and won over the Beltway 'business as usual' crowd any day of the week!"

9:18: Fred says Sarah has got the other side "in a state of panic." And she knows "how to field dress a moose." Now, he's telling the story of John McCain's life, "putting his country first." He's putting a lot of passion into the delivery. The harrowing story of McCain's imprisonment. "We hear a lot of talk about hope these days. John McCain knows about hope. That's all he had."

9:29: Remember. After the comments go over 200, you need to click on "post a comment" and then "newer" to keep the conversation going. I know a lot of you know how to do that.

9:35: "The respect [John McCain] is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to America's critics abroad... *ahem*.... no, it's not that."

9:38: Obama is "history-making" all right: he's the most inexperienced, left-wing candidate the Democrats have ever run -- says Thompson.

9:52: The CNN commentary is insufferable. After Thompson, they all just kept saying "red meat."

9:55: It's Joe Lieberman. I kind of love this guy. I voted for him one time. Man, he is a boring speaker though. I can't imagine him as the VP candidate. Palin is a much better speaker.

9:59: "I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party."

10:05: "Eloquence is no substitute for a record," Lieberman says of Obama. Now, he compares Obama to Bill Clinton. Clinton stood up to interest groups and worked with Republicans for major achievements. [ADDED: He was saying Clinton was better than Obama: "In the Senate [Obama] has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party. Contrast that to John McCain’s record, or the record of the last Democratic President, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements, and a balanced budget."]

10:07: Sarah Palin is a "great lady."

10:12: He's warming up. Maybe it's not so boring now. "These are not ordinary times and John McCain is no ordinary candidate." He says what he thinks is right... ah... too much repetition. John McCain has character and experience....

10:17: After-speech commentary. Donna Brazile is talking fast but stumbles in a way -- "Look, Joe... Lieberman is a man... " -- "speaking at this conviction, this convention" -- that makes me feel sure she's reading from a teleprompter.

10:21: David Gergen thinks Lieberman has "extremely annoyed" some Democrats by not only supporting his old friend McCain but also really going after Obama "in a very personal way."

10:43: That's it for me. A decent convention night. The highlight was Fred Thompson's dramatization of McCain's Vietnam experience. Or was it Joe Lieberman telling everyone we should vote against his party?

Forget CNN watch on Fox and get some actual footage of the convention.

Try a Dorothy Hammil type of cut if your hair isn't too fine. I remember you are a natural redhead and sometimes that type of hair is on the thin/fine side. A nice short stacked bob would be very cute.

There's a phenomenon of Democrats posing as Republicans in news stories and as callers to radio shows. Next time you see a news story about a 'lifelong Republican' who has suddenly had a change of heart and loves (fill in name of Democrat candidate),' do a little citizen journalism. Write the name down, goggle them, and see who they are. Nine times out of ten you will find all sorts of references to them as Democrats.

In the talk radio world these folks are called Seminar Callers, and a clear giveaway is they say, "I'm a lifelong Republican BUT" and everything following but is the exact talking points of the DNC.

Hint to all fake Republicans: if you have to tell people you are a Republican, you probably aren't.

Oh, I see how it is. Because someone who claims to be a Republican doesn't fall in line with Victoria's obsessive fascination with Palin, they aren't really a Republican.

Skepticism is called for for the simple reason that the media in general, and left-wing media like NPR in particular, have a long track record of finding "life-long Republicans" to interview who turn out to have voted Democrat in the last two or three elections. When a "Republican" offers an opinion sharply at odds with typical Republican voters, it is always a good idea to ask if the person is actually a Republican or simply claiming to be.

Obviously one can be a Republican and not agree with Victoria; one can certainly be a Republican and not want to vote for McCain. And there are almost certainly women out there who will refuse to vote for a man who nominates a woman with a pregnant daughter to be his Vice President; there are 310 million Americans, after all, and it is inevitable that some of them will be idiots. Frankly I'd be happier knowing that people who think that way aren't voting. :)

I remember seeing a number of CNN interviews with Democrats saying that they were uncomfortable with Obama because he has no experience whatsoever. Standard stuff. They'd cut to Wolf Blitzer nodding all serious like he does.

Between the morbidly sensationalist coverage of Hurricane Gustav last night to the blatantly partisan (if not sexist) treatment of Gov. Palin, I don't think I've ever been as disappointed in cable news as I am right now.

The all-volunteer military is majority white, disproportionately Southern, and drawn more from top-quintile neighborhoods (25%) than bottom-quintile neighborhoods (11%) . . . and that's the enlisted ranks, not the officers.

So, in the case of a "full-fledged race and class war" in this country, well, who do you think is going to come out on top?

Holding a gun to your own head and shouting, "Gimme what I want or I'll shoot!" is not the brightest of tactics.

I find you hilarious, Alpha, because you pop over here from time to time expounding little vignettes that you obviously learned from your wacky far-left websites. You are essentially a mouthpiece. A cad.

However, when people respond to you, you invariably retort that people on the right have these things you call talking points. Can you get any sense of how delightfully stupid that is?

Come on, Dogwood. Stop spouting Karl Rove's talking points. We all know McCain picked a governor who wants to secede. And we all know Karl Rove is behind the pick. Because Karl Rove is brilliant. And Republicans are idiots who would make such a pick.

More on the Alaska secessionist party that the GOP Vice Presidential nominee adores:"The founder of the Alaska Independence Party -- a group that has been courted over the years by Sarah Palin, and one her husband was a member of for roughly seven years -- once professed his "hatred for the American government" and cursed the American flag as a "damn flag."

The AIP founder, Joe Vogler, made the comments in 1991, in an interview that's now housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government," Vogler said in the interview, in which he talked extensively about his desire for Alaskan succession, the key goal of the AIP.

"And I won't be buried under their damn flag," Vogler continued in the interview, which also touched on his disappointment with the American judicial system. "I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."

Still time to pull the plug on Palin, gang. Better get on the phones to your state Republican Party. This train is going over a cliff!!

Alpha -- Do you have any idea how amusing it is to watch you come over and have your panties in an absolute wad? How do you live? How do you handle the stress of all these breathtaking scandals you report?

Obama will lose. John Edwards had a kid outside his marriage. Bill Clinton beat off into the sink in the Oval Office. Eliot Spitzer had sex with semi-attractive whores. The world continues to rotate calmly on its axis.

Unlike John McCain who NEVER mentions both his military sons, Sarah Palin made it known immediately that her son was serving in the Army, and will be shipped out to Iraq in 10 days.

She did that not (channelling Liberals' knee-jerk reactions) because she's a flag-waving, nationalist warmongerer, but because she's proud of her son's service -- as would be any mother. As is Joe Biden of his son, who personally mentioned his forthcoming service in Iraq.

But also she knows people need to know more about her lifestory.

Having mentioned that McCain never refers to his sons' Naval service, one of the best visuals we could have on Wednesday or Thursday, is to show all 3 boys in their uniforms, front and centre as McCain and Palin give their speeches.

I hope they do run with that anti-American meme. It'll explode on their faces.

Alpha my friend (to quote your hero John McCain for whom you were going to vote for before the palin pick): aint gonna happen. Palin will be the VP nominee so I guess you are going to have to pull the lever for Obama. I love representative government. And we will all know in November how this all worked out, wont we. If I knew I wouldnt be wasting my time posting here--would be buying futures and retiring to the bahamas.

fortunately for the republic our military and its officers are above politics--Its part of the training, and they are a very disciplined lot. so that kind of garbage suggests no understanding of your military who protects liberals and conservatives alike. I trust them far more than I trust their elected leaders.

Note how she doesn't say one word in favor of the USA! But she loves the AIP.

The transcript of the speech:

I'm Governor Sarah Palin and I am delighted to welcome you to the 2008 Alaskan Independence Party convention in the golden heart city of Fairbanks. Your party plays an important part in our state's politics. I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well. I share your party's vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state. My administration remains focused on reigning in government growth so individual liberty and opportunity can expand. I know you agree with that. We have a great promise to be a self-sufficient state made up of the hardest-working, most grateful Americans in our nation. So as your convention gets underway, I hope that you all are inspired by remembering that all those years ago, it was in this same city that Alaska's constitution was born, and it was founded on hope, and trust, and liberty, and opportunity. I carry that message of opportunity forward in my administration as we continue to move our state ahead and create positive change. So I say good luck on a successful and inspiring convention, keep up the good work, and God bless you.

Wow. What "shocking" sentiments. What hatred of America; what shocking "praise" of the AIP. Why, she even goes so far as to support upholding the constitution... and supporting individual liberty... and, most shockingly, bringing "positive change"! Who does she think she is, Barack Obama or somebody? :)

5:22 Central Time: Just setting up the post. Let me set up five boxes of wine to tap sequentially as the evening progresses. Hic!

5:31: Ugh. CNN is still going over and over the hurricane. Stupid nearly-drowning people. Who cares? I look out my own window. It's all high and dry! Speaking of dry...box wine!!!

5:32: I'll have to run off at some point to go to a hair appointment. Feel free to tell me how you think I should get my hair cut. Pictures especially appreciated. I don't even know how I'm getting there. Can someone drive me? Can maybe my blogger son, who is somewhat less inane than me strictly by virtue of not being me, create some sort of virtual car that can take me to my hair appointment withought ectually invulving me in gedding indo a car? That wood be mytee appreshated, thanx

5:49: The subject is weather Sharia Plan shud stay home with her "speshzull needz" child. Can you be a mother and purse a career? Chlorine Burger, a self-identified "wanking mom," sez you can't make "generalizations," and everyone must make her own decision. How shud I doo m hare?

5:57: Wolf Blitzer is pissing the meme -- witch V herd elzware -- that McCain is "maverick" and that means he makes implosive decishinns like teh joyce of Sarah Palin. He dozen add -- bit there are virgins of this meme where it is ddded -- that this posedlee gut levl cherce of Rah Plin shd stand za warng bout the way he will mak decision bout reign plic.

6:38: Sheez-att shizzleyshitsingg of the the national nthe, but I rillydon lak te singers fuctupsingin. Weird to have the flag wavion a dig it all screen.

The party's leader cursed the USA in far greater terms than Rev Wright.

So the meme here is that Palin is married to a guy who once belonged to a party whose vice presidential candidate recently cursed out the US government. And that this is somehow not merely equivalent to Obama personally giving organizational and financial support a bunch of Jew-hating anti-American racists for twenty years, but somehow worse than it.

Victoria I think an army 45 caliber m1911 style pistol--has a nine round magazine and bullets are still fairly cheap--and it has the advantage of being able to knock down almost anything it hits anywhere it hits including extremities. It isnt concealable, however, but unlike your dad's revolvers (I assume british army) its easy to reload. It is designed for close combat so it is not at all accurate--but you don't use a pistol for long range shooting. Aim center of mass and keep squeezing the trigger until the perp goes down--which wont take long.

All sorts of pundits already can't resist critiquing Palin's experience, which is then naturally compared to Obama. And no matter which way you lean on who's more qualified, it's much worse for Obama because he's at the top of his ticket.

Next they're going to try and push this AIP thing as the Palin version of a Wright/Ayers thing. Of course, that will drag the Wright/Ayers thing back into the press to be compared with it. But Palin's never been a member of AIP, her comments to them never endorse successionism and her son's enlisted in the US army. So it will also hurt Obama much more.

Glock has several models that are very concealable. Check out the .40 G27 or the .45 G30.

I wouldn't go with 9 mm because I don't think it has the necessary stopping power. The .45 drops'em like a rock, but is heavier. The .40 seems to be a nice compromise between carrying comfort and stopping power.

Just make sure the gun you buy is comfortable, because if it isn't, then you won't wear it and that won't do you any good.

Victoria--you and your mums personal protection are considerably more important that the tripe that is showing up on this blog. They make smaller pistols, eg a 40 cal which is also lighter and concealable. Experiment with a variety until you find the one you are comfortable handling.

Sarah Palin is for abstinence-only education, the meme goes (actually it's not clear that she is, but let's assume it arguendo) - but her daughter got pregnant, which demonstrates that abstinence-only education is a failure. This post is typical of the type.

The obvious flaw in the theory is its dubious assumption that if Sarah is for abstinence-only education, ergo that was the sex ed. that Bristol got. It appears that Bristol went to public school, however, and received a standard sex education. So the meme seems to reduce to something quite unimpressive: if Bristol had received abstinence-only education (which she didn't), the same thing would have happened (probably). Like most of the Palin memes it turns out to be insubstantial.

As one who didn't/couldn't keep up with the 700+ comments on the Bristol thread, I would like to suggest that we keep this thread on topic and the number of re-posts to a minimum. That way more than the few verbose contributors can follow without the rest becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume and just give up.

Alpha--ok will rise to the bait--a daily tracking poll isnt worth much inasmuch as presidential elections are determined in the electoral college--moreover they have to be done with likely rather than registered voters. and they have to be looked at state by state. and you have to know the number of like democrats vs likely republicans--ie properly weighted. So no, a daily tracking poll is impressionistic and nothing more. Lots of time to go before Nov 4,, but if you want to pop the champagne corks now, be my guest.

When my mother noticed it in my room, she marched me back to the saleslady and made me confess to my crime.

My seven year old took a chocolate Easter egg from WalMart this year. We took her back to the store the next day, made her confess her crime to the store manager, and then pay for the egg using her own money.

Lesson learned, but no guarantee she will never do it again, because she is a kid and they are not known for having excellent impulse control.

It's not perfect, but it at least asks the right question. The only catch with it is that it presents something of a misleading picture because not every state is updated every day; right now, it shows Obama leading 278-247, but Iowa, for example, has not been updated with a new poll since August 13th.

please note I never said Palin exhibited or mentioned any "hatred of America."

I never said you did, although I'm confident you will eventually. What you said was that Palin is as unpatriotic as a person can be, and probably a traitor as well.

And, by her mentioning America in her speech, in the context of lauding the secessionists, doesn't mean she spoke well of it to this crowd.

Anyone who looks at the transcript or watches the video can tell you're lying about her "lauding" the AIP, so we'll say no more about that. Suffice it to say that only a patriot speaks of herself as being among "the most grateful Americans in the nation".

I think it will take some time for this dem/msm assault on gov palin to seep into the public's consciousness--right now its primarily what someone called an "attentive public" thing. and for sure the pundits have always underestimated the middle class. Its what happens when you live in that particular coccoon.

If Obama is still up by 10 points in the middle of Oct then i will start squirming--until then too much yet to happen.

This Palin thing will be pretty much gone by this weekend--I suspect it is a tactical ploy by the dems to distract from the convention. We will see.

Victoria, If you're after the Lara Croft look then you need to get an H&K USP. Personally I think they are a bit on the large size to carry. The smaller Glocks are very nice. The CZ line of pistols is very good as well. They don't make a compact as small as Glock does but the size of the gun you carry will depend on how you carry. Don't be swayed by the .40 and greater crowd. Odds are you won't find one willing to be shot with a 'puny' 9mm. :-)

Buy a gun (or three). Join the NRA (I think I have some free 1 year memberships to give away if you're interested) and find a good instructor.

simon: one caveat of course--that mccain doesnt toss out Gov Palin and she hangs in there--and given who they are I dont see that happening--its a ham handed attempt by the left to smear them and hope it sticks. aint going to work--the dif between a hockey mom and pit bull is the lipstick thing. I should put that on my puter.

"Well whatever sex ed. she got, she certainly wasn't being guided or parented well enough by her mom!"

Yaknow...

This is getting on my nerves. I love the fun and games and frankly, politics should be entertaining... but *really*... are people suddenly of the opinion that parental attention is going to stop the 17 year olds who are having sex from having it?

Isn't the "attention" that Sarah is supposedly supposed to have been giving her daughter the "I'll drive you to the doctor, hun, and get you the pill, now don't bother me?"

Lets be honest shall we?

By the time kids are teens they will do what they will do. Some of them are sexually active. Some are not. But in *any* case, about the stupidest, dumbest, thing a parent can do is try to live in the kid's back pocket.

So please let us be honest. NO ONE complaining about the parenting that Bristol received really thinks that the girl was acting out due to neglect! The "parenting" they figure she should have got was a package of pills on her way out the door.

A slight bit off topic, but hopefully not much. Apparently someone on the left, with maybe Democratic party affiliations, has released a lot of Gov. Palin's personal information, including her social security number. It was apparently also done two years ago to Michael Steele.

Personally, I question whether we want a party that routinely discloses its opponents private personal information for their own gain in power. I remember the last time that the Democrats were in the White House, and one of the first things that they did was pull FBI files on a large number of Republican politicians. Seems that to at least the Democrats at the top of their party, privacy is only important if it doesn't stand in the way of overcoming their enemies.

The interesting thing about the chastity movement (where that exists) is that it is not imposed by adults. It's young people and young spokesmen and women who promote the self discipline of self control. (Frankly, along with an extra helping of hormones, young people have an extra helping of fire in their hearts for just about anything they set their minds to.)

For the rest... some of us have been trying to explain to them that sex matters, that the damage that can be done to emotions and future relationships matters. We're mocked for this.

And the others... they've been all on the "kids will be kids" lets at least be sure they don't get "punished" for being stupid thing...

So, logically, how do you think this will play out? All of a sudden a whole lot of people have discovered anew the idea that young people *shouldn't* have sex whenever they darn well want to?

I was disappointed with Bush's speech. I thought he would have done better to acknowledge that things haven't been peachy, that there is work started that is unfinished, work that will only be done if McCain is elected.

I thought Rudy was the keynote speaker at this convention? Oh, that's right, the Christianist pro-life religious nuts pulled off a coup in the GOP despite losing soundly in the GOP primaries. So, instead of McCain being able to pick his first or second choices for VP (Lieberman and Ridge) he's stuck with this ultra-right-wing woman from Alaska who doesn't just oppose Roe but wants to OUTLAW abortion for everyone in every circumstance, including rape and incest.

You can have this Republican Party, Christianists. Your take-over on the eve of the convention shows me that that Party has no place for anyone but the Religious Right.

I listen to so few speeches, but I caught snippets of F. Thompson on the radio while I was running an errand (retrieving my daughter's cell phone charger!) I didn't think he sounded good -- raspy, bad cadence and not in step with the audience -- this was while he was talking about John McCain. And he said My Friends -- but somehow it didn't seem so grating coming from him as it does from McCain.

So I've listened to approximately 3 minutes of speeches during the Republican Convention, and that's 3 minutes more than I listened to during the Democratic Convention. Three minutes I'll never get back :)